Lesson 14

Parents come next week for Station Day! Please have your child ready to play their composition for me during our Celebration Station meeting. We will meet briefly to celebrate your child’s progress and make sure they feel comfortable for the performance.

Homework: pp. 36–37 Students answer theory questions straight from their "Magic Keys" song.

We had fun this week completing the Theory Quiz and practicing for the recital. Remind your child to practice the following:

• Walk confidently to the piano
• Look at the audience and introduce your composition ("My name is ..."; "The title of my piece is ..."; Choose one or two statements from HW Booklet p. 29 to state.)
• Sit on bench and put your hands in your lap
• Take a deep breath and think about your tempo and how your piece sounds
• Place hands on your starting position
• Play straight through (even if you play a mistake — just keep going!)
• When your piece is finished, place your hands in your lap
• Stand, smile and bow (you may get your music if you are using it either before or after you bow)
• Walk back to your set with a smile — you did it!

Do you know the lesson of the bamboo?? It is no coincidence that our 6th and final semester is called Orange Roots. This is not the end of your child's musical journey, we’ve built the roots for them to continue to grow every day in every way as a musician! By now, your child has attended at least seventy-five classes: 3,675 minutes of classroom instruction. You've found babysitters for siblings so you could be in class on parent week. You've arranged schedules and meal-times and errands so your child could get to all seventy-five classes on time. You set up a daily practice plan and played with your child and assisted in hundreds of hours of practice. You helped with homework. And now something wonderful is finally happening: your child is learning some serious music theory, performing some fantastic songs, and even composing and transcribing their own music. Finally, your bamboo has sprouted!